Its another DDO Debates hosted by Turbine’s Community Manager Cordovan with DDOCentral, Kantouch & Shamgar debating U27 & the XP changes! We also hit the game news and give a snapshot into the DDO community!

NOTE: these answers are before the changes went live and are our perceptions leading up to launch.

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Have ideas for round table topics, questions you want to ask us, or topics you’d like to see us debate? Leave us a comment, send us an email (ddocast@gmail.com) or give us a tweet (@ddocast)!

DDO Debates – 1:40
-Do we like the XP changes? Will it encourage grouping/raiding? – 4:34
-Should we be allowed to turn off bravery streak? – 16:20
-What U27 feature is the best change/addition to the game? – 23:09
-Which U27 item is the best item? – 30:19
-What kind of warlock should be your first? – 37:14
-What damaging or enemy-debuffing on-hit weapon proc or special effect do you feel is the most useful in DDO? – 44:30
-What monster do we want to see added to DDO? – 52:32
News -1:02:19
Lightning Post – 1:36:19
Closing – 1:36:57

Voodu, Steiner-Davion and Kantouch join Shamgar for a discussion about how to prepare yourself for the raiding scene by getting Raid Ready! We also cover the latest game news, U27 info, & community news!

Check out www.ddocast.com for mp3 audio, our show calendar, swag, archives, and more!

Want to support the show? You can feed the kobolds (give money) on our website www.ddocast.com! We use these gifts to support the show and give out prizes.

Have ideas for round table topics, questions you want to ask us, or topics you’d like to see us debate? Leave us a comment, send us an email (ddocast@gmail.com) or give us a tweet (@ddocast)!

MikarDDO has set forth a 10 week challenge to complete dungeons on as low a level as possible in both groups and solo play. In this DDOCaSplat! special, you can watch Shamgar attempt to complete these challenges.

Week 10: Devil’s Assault Elite (level 18) – At the time of completion the lowest level of completion was 7. I gave 6 a few tries but decided to jump up to 8 to flesh out my particular build better. It means giving up 2 points or more, but I’m already far enough back its not really a big deal. And I wanted to not be in there all night. I completed my first real attempt (i forgot ship resists the first time and went suicidal).

The first wave proved to be a little challenging depending on the run. It consistently had the highest number of champions. Luckily they didnt get any dangerous buffs.

Wave 2 was when i learned that the archers are a priority target as they were doing more damage – presumably they were doing evil damage. The bezekiras were also dangerous but I was able to handle a few trips.

Wave 3 introduced fire elementals. They ultimately proved to be less dangerous than the archers except the champion.

Wave 4 introduced some casters, but they proved to be a non issue. I prioritized them and kited the orthons and devils. The orthons did a little damage with their repeaters but not too much.

Wave 5 was when things started getting sporting. I ran into some extra challenges. First, the casters were now real casters with disintegrate and magic missile – which my warlock shield didn’t block and was an unexpected problem. Second, my ship resists wore off and I had forgotten resist energy potions. I was able to compensate for the fire elementals with cold shield potions. I chose not to kill them in fear of a champion fire elemental which I think was a solid choice. Thirdly, gear started breaking including my lifeshield docent! Ultimately my dwindling stash of healing potions carried the day.

MikarDDO has set forth a 10 week challenge to complete dungeons on as low a level as possible in both groups and solo play. In this DDOCaSplat! special, you can watch Shamgar attempt to complete these challenges.

Week 9: What Goes Up Heroic Elite at level 15 – This challenge wasn’t as difficult as it sounds. Lots of running and shooting took care of most of the quest. Once I moved outside I did fall through the glacier leading me to run to certain working areas to kite/kill.

I did run into a little trouble with a pack of Orc battle clerics in that they were healing each other faster than I could kill them. Archer’s focus turned out to be the key to overcoming that hurdle.

The end fight was mostly a matter of finding the non respawning mobs that needed to die and pulling them with as few extra guys as possible. The shadovars were dangerous but ultimately turned out to be a non-issue. They did use disintegrate but i mostly dodged it and saved the rest. I was also able to get a lot of shots into the main boss before the final phase so when a mob of orcs came I was able to single him out and finish him off without dealing with the orcs…a nice bonus since I was already up to 2.75 hours…

MikarDDO has set forth a 10 week challenge to complete dungeons on as low a level as possible in both groups and solo play. In this DDOCaSplat! special, you can watch Shamgar attempt to complete these challenges.

Week 8: Eveningstar Challenges – This week’s challenge is to run The Great Tree, Daybreak Ritual, and Fight to the Finish challenges – 1 of each of the Eveningstar Challenge maps. Scoring this round is (Challenge Level + stars)*100 + score – which turns out to be a pretty darn good metric. It clearly favors running as high a level as possible but that’s kind of the point of the challenge.

I am already far enough behind in points to be out of serious running. I’ve also sunk more time in these than I was intending, so its all for personal enjoyment and satisfaction at this point. The goal this week was to hit 8 points for each, which was GT 7200, DR 3200, FttF 3000.

00:06 – Daybreak Ritual – Official Score: 3494 – Level 30 @ 3 stars – Again the primary goal here is to keep aggro on me not the people/ward I’m trying to protect. It proved to be simple enough that I was able to sneak away periodically and upgrade the ballistas for a bonus star. With the scoring method, I really only needed to get the 1 star for completion at level 30, but I got 2 more and moved on after a successful first run.

11:56 – Fight to the Finish – Official Score: 3092 – Level 25 @ 2 stars – This was the most difficult of the 3 since again, my build is not exactly a killing machine. I moved some enhancements around for additional offense but it proved to be not enough to get even the 1 star at level 30. I downgraded to level 25 and was just able to pull in 2 stars which when combined with my points was enough to put me over the 8 point mark.

24:32 – Great Tree: Official Score: 7128 – Level 30 @ 3 Stars – This Challenge is relatively easy, even on level 30. Its more about keeping aggro off the trees, particularly the life trees, and getting the 3 life trees upgraded as soon as possible. You can upgrade the trees at 50 energy (as opposed to 80 like it says). Ultimate the only real difficutly came in killing the bosses, which my build is short of being able to achieve being built more for surviving than offense. Since the 7200 required killing more than I could achieve on level 30 I moved on.

We ask our panel of guests several questions about the upcoming warlock class and then ask them a few more questions to debate! Featuring from Damsels of DDO: Mythery, Vooduspyce, & Chai!

Check out www.ddocast.com for mp3 audio, our show calendar, swag, archives, and more!

Want to support the show? You can feed the kobolds (give money) on our website www.ddocast.com! We use these gifts to support the show and give out prizes.

Have ideas for round table topics, questions you want to ask us, or topics you’d like to see us debate? Leave us a comment, send us an email (ddocast@gmail.com) or give us a tweet (@ddocast)!

DDO Debates – 1:32
-Are we excited about warlocks? – 3:07
-What warlock ability are we most looking forward to? – 6:18
-What warlock pact do you like on paper the best? – 12:14
-Should warlocks have alignment restrictions? – 15:28
-Do we really need warlocks? Should they have chosen a different class? – 18:28
-Should Hirelings be allowed in raids? – 22:07
-Should you stay with a slow inactive higher level guild or join a more active lower level guild? – 22:38
-What would we like to see for a 3rd Druid tree? – 32:42
-Are we concerned that infinite crisis is shutting down so quickly? – 45:14
-What group of movie/tv characters would you want to watch play DnD? – 54:00
News – 1:00:53
Closing – 1:27:42

MikarDDO has set forth a 10 week challenge to complete dungeons on as low a level as possible in both groups and solo play. In this DDOCaSplat! special, you can watch Shamgar attempt to complete these challenges.

Week 5: Against the Demon Queen + Zawabi’s Refuge (bonus points)

DQ1 was a very simple affair. My bladeforged artificer/pally/monk made easy work of the whole thing. I was actually quite surprised at how fast and simple it went. Not even the queen gave me much trouble and I had a simple time staying far enough away do shoot her to death. Some folks reported problems with the wildmen mystics and disintegrate, but if they hit me i sure didnt notice.

DQ2 was a far different story. I was caught off guard a little how much more difficult it was. In practice, the raid became an exercise in different ways I could get slowed down, which caused problems. I fell victim alternatively to poorly timed cripples (for crying out loud, 1 minute cripple should have been fixed a hell of a long time ago), ray of enfeeblement, and buffs simply wearing off without catching it. I tried a few tactical variations like killing the archers, but it seemed not to be worth it. In hindsight, a 4th level of paladin would have served me very well with the 10% movement speed boost. Ultimately I didnt have much time with work to get a win and I ended up spending more time than I had.

Shamgar covers the week in game and community news including the first release notes for update 26! Then the High Lords of Malkier from Sarlona take on A Tribe Called Zerg from Cannith in the second edition of Guild Feud!

Check out www.ddocast.com for mp3 audio, our show calendar, swag, archives, and more!

Want to support the show? You can feed the kobolds (give money) on our website www.ddocast.com! We use these gifts to support the show and give out prizes.

Have ideas for round table topics, questions you want to ask us, or topics you’d like to see us debate? Leave us a comment, send us an email (ddocast@gmail.com) or give us a tweet (@ddocast)!

MikarDDO has set forth a 10 week challenge to complete dungeons on as low a level as possible in both groups and solo play. In this DDOCaSplat! special, you can watch Shamgar attempt to complete these challenges.

Week 4: Kobold Chaos Level 14 with a level 7 Character. This is a sample run, and not one of the better.

Of all the challenges that could have been chosen, this would have been my last. I’m decent ish at Kobold Island, but clearly not as good as some. I chose to try a low level modified shuricannon build reasoning that ranged and fast movement would be key. I also took intimidate to quickly pull mobs off the extractors. The theory was sound in practice but the actual choice turned out to be poor and my stubbornness dictated I stick with it. Also, I want to try this particular character on the next challenge and character slots are an issue.

Rather early on i had a run at 4737 points, agonizingly shy of the 4800 needed for 8 points. I would have had it but i ran out of parts for the next large upgrade. sadly 4 more some odd hours would prove to be futile.

The biggest problem I ran into was not being able to kill the archon. It was partly gear, partly luck, mostly my build lacked a little punch and couldn’t handle a melee crowd.

I tried a couple tactical variations and got some slight improvement (I found not killing the named water elementals rather effective, they didnt seem to do much to the extractors) but alas I was not able to break into the 4800 point score for 8 points. Had I chosen build more wisely it would have been doable.